Afternoon summary

Number 10 has made it clear that Lord Freud will not be sacked for his comments about some disabled people not being worth the full minimum wage. Following Freud’s apology, the prime minister’s spokesman said David Cameron had full confidence in Freud. (See 4.13pm.) But Labour has said Freud should be sacked (see 4.02pm) and Jo Swinson, a Lib Dem business minister, has condemned him in the Commons. Swinson said:

Members on all sides of the House have been understandably shocked by the remarks by Lord Freud which I would stress absolutely do not reflect the government’s position and are clearly offensive and unacceptable. And I am glad he has issued a full apology.

A former Lord Mayor of Belfast has announed his defection to UKIP. As my colleague Henry McDonald reports, Ulster Unionist veteran city councillor Bobby Stoker has joined Nigel Farage’s party. He links up with another UUP defector to Ukip, the Strangford Assembly member David McNarry. Ukip’s deputy leader and MEP Paul Nuttal described Stoker as “a first rate recruit” at Stormont today. Stoker represents a constituency in South Belfast close to the city centre which includes loyalist working class districts such as the Donegall Road/Village and Sandy Row. He was Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1999 after his third year serving on the city council. One of his sons was badly injured while serving in the Royal Irish Regiment in Afghanistan.

A Ukip parliamentary candidate has been deselected by the party after admitting animal welfare charges. As the Press Association reports, farmer David Evans, 71, of Week St Mary, was chosen to contest Camborne and Redruth in Cornwall. The seat is held by Conservative George Eustice, who achieved a majority of just 66 votes over the Liberal Democrats in May 2010. Ukip announced Evans would be standing for the party earlier this month, but has now removed him following court proceedings. Evans appeared at Bodmin Magistrates Court on Monday and entered guilty pleas to six animal welfare charges.

Robert Halfon, a Conservative MP, has urged Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, to apologise for saying that Halfon favoured exempting the disabled from the minimum wage.

Hunt was on the Daily Politics talking about Lord Freud and he said Freud’s comments were significant because other Tories were talking about not paying the minimum wage to the disabled. Hunt said he though Halfon was one of them.

Later in the Commons, Halfon, who has been disabled since birth with spastic diaplegia, which affects only his legs and means he is unable to walk unaided, said Hunt was wrong. Raising a point of order, he said:

I campaigned strongly for increases in the minimum wage and I find this quite incredible. While sitting here I have seen a text from [Hunt] recognising that it wasn’t me who said this. But the problem is that millions of people, on television, will have seen it.

I’m a passionate supporter of the minimum wage, especially for disabled people. Could I ask the frontbench to ask [Hunt] to come to the chamber to correct what he has said and apologise, otherwise the people who have watched that programme and my constituents will believe I hold such abhorrent views.

The Labour party is refusing to accept the Lord Freud apology. This is from a spokesman.

This attempt at an apology is not the end of the matter. Lord Freud claims he merely accepted ‘the premise of the question’ but it was he who said some disabled people are ‘not worth the full wage’ and it was he who suggested paying people just £2 an hour. In fact he said he would go away to look at this issue, suggesting that this government would consider it.

Someone holding these views shouldn’t be in government. Disability charities have already condemned Lord Freud’s comments in the strongest possible terms, senior Tories have called for Lord Freud to resign, a ministerial colleague has said these words will ‘haunt him’, yet David Cameron has so far failed to act.

If David Cameron continues to keep Lord Freud in his government we will have yet more proof of how he stands for just a privileged few at the top.

I will look very carefully at all amendments to come forward because frankly getting this bill together, I think we have come up with the minimum acceptable. But I think there are a lot of very good arguments to be had about how we can go further and I look forward to having them in the House of Commons.

Cameron has said he will consider recognising murdered British hostage Alan Henning with a national honour.

October’s Ipsos MORI Political Monitor shows that, in the aftermath of Douglas Carswell’s by-election win for the party, more of the British public now disagree that voting Ukip in a general election is a wasted vote than agree. Just under half (48%) disagree that a general election vote for Ukip is a wasted vote, compared with 41% who agree. This is a turnaround from earlier this year – last month, prior to the Clacton by-election, 50% thought a UKIP vote was a vote wasted and 41% disagreed; in May, some 57% thought voting UKIP was a wasted vote and just 33% disagreed.

A government review into the use of extreme tactics by trade unions has concluded without being about to establish whether the problem exists. Bruce Carr QC terminated his inquiry without making recommendations, saying the “increasingly political environment” and the lack of evidence made a full report impossible. In a statement he said:

Considering [the use of extreme tactics by unions] – the information gathered by the Review and reflected in the Report shows that there are some employers who believe that they have been subjected to tactics during industrial disputes which they consider to be ‘extreme’. There were also certain themes emerging in the tactics used. However, the one-sided nature of this evidence, the relative lack of primary evidence received, and the inability to thoroughly test it through a question and answer process has made it fundamentally difficult for me to make any evidence-based judgement on either the extent or the ‘extremity’ of such a problem, should it exist.

But the free market thinktank, the Adam Smith Institute, has defended Lord Freud (even though Freud is not defending himself.) This is from its research director, Sam Bowman.

Lord Freud has been shamefully mistreated by Ed Miliband. His point was that the market value of some people’s wages is below the minimum wage. This is often true of the severely disabled and can have appalling consequences for their self-esteem and quality of life. Fixing this problem was the justification for Remploy, a government-funded firm that gave jobs to disabled people who could not find work elsewhere.

To point out that someone’s market value is less than minimum wage has nothing to do with their moral value as human beings. Freud’s point was that we should help people in this situation by allowing them to find jobs paying below the minimum wage and topping up their pay directly to make up the difference.

Even if you don’t agree with this method, it is motivated by compassion for the disabled and an understanding of the unpleasant side-effects of our minimum wage laws. Freud’s only crime was to speak bluntly: it is disgraceful to use his words against him in the way Miliband has.

The Liberal Democrats have condemned Lord Freud’s remarks. This is from a spokesman.

The views expressed by Lord Freud are completely unacceptable. The Liberal Democrats are proud to have raised the minimum wage repeatedly in government and will resist any attempt to cut it for anybody, not least the disabled.

Lord Freud apologises - Full text

Here’s Lord Freud’s apology in full.

I would like to offer a full and unreserved apology. I was foolish to accept the premise of the question. To be clear, all disabled people should be paid at least the minimum wage, without exception, and I accept that it is offensive to suggest anything else.

I care passionately about disabled people. I am proud to have played a full part in a government that is fully committed to helping disabled people overcome the many barriers they face in finding employment. That is why through Universal Credit – which I referred to in my response – we have increased overall spending on disabled households by £250m, offered the most generous work allowance ever, and increased the disability addition to £360 per month.

I am profoundly sorry for any offence I have caused to any disabled people.

Wherever they work and whoever they work for, disabled people are entitled to equal pay. Instead of opening the door to pay discrimination and extreme poverty, the government should recognise that disabled people need a pay rise just like the rest of Britain.

From a spokesman for the PCS public service union

These repellant comments are the latest in a long and unpleasant history of Freud’s involvement in successive governments’ attempts to demonise people who rely on social security. It would be incredible if Cameron refuses to sack him, but the bigger issue is what this government is trying to do to our welfare state.

Mencap, the disability charity, has released this comment on Lord Freud’s remarks. It’s fromCiara Lawrence, who has a learning disability and is in full time employment.

I find it disgusting that in 2014 a senior politician and member of the House of Lords is alleged to still believe inequality is acceptable. I did not choose to have a learning disability, however I do choose to work a full time job and with the right support around me have become a respected and valued member of my team. The same is true for many other people with a disability.

People with a disability are often made to feel like second class citizens and face many barriers when trying to receive the same rights as everyone else, especially in employment. Having a politician place further barriers to us being included is incredibly upsetting and frankly quite frightening.

I hope politicians realise that people with a disability should be encouraged to become active citizens, and not to be discriminated against for their disability, and I want to call for a full explanation of how these comments are deemed acceptable in this day and age.